The seventh day of our trip to the Czech Republic was one of my favorite days in Prague. I’m not very good at relaxing on vacation, and so I’m really glad we spent at least one day of our trip doing very leisurely things. When I travel, I always feel like I need to be seizing every moment and taking advantage of every opportunity, but sometimes I really just do need to slow down and smell the roses. And that is literally what I did on this day. It is vacation after all!

First up, for a second time, we took the funicular to the top of Petrin Hill. The Mala Strana area of Prague lies at the summit of the hill, and pretty parks and green spaces cover the face of the hill, which helped me ease into a relaxed state of mind for the day.

The roses! There is actually a huge, beautiful rose garden located at the funicular exit, and on the walk over to the observation tower, our destination. I did slow down and smell the roses.

From the bottom of Petrin Hill, back on the other side of the Vlatava River, we had enjoyed distant views of the Petrin Observation Tower for days. Today was our chance to climb it.

Tickets are required to visit the top of the Observation Tower and you can actually take an elevator (slightly more expensive) or else climb 299 steps to the top. We decided to climb. It’s part of the experience.

The day was a little hazy, but the view was incredible!

Zooming in a bit with my camera here, but we could see the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral from the tower.

We hung out at the top of the observation tower for a really long time. No fear of heights for me.

It was just really relaxing to daydream and take in the views, and not very crowded either (especially at the middle observation deck, as opposed to the highest deck.) It was also just a really nice warm day. We spent much of that time people-watching, too

Everyone who walked up the path below seemed to pause and snap a few pictures of the tower with their camera, and we amused ourselves by trying to “photo bomb” these people by enthusiastically waving to them. I hope they see us in their pictures! We are dorks.

Lovin’ the views of Prague and Petrin Hill. Like my new floppy hat? A Czech souvenir.

Finally we came down from the tower, and took ourselves on a quaint, leisurely little stroll across Petrin Hill.

As we descended the hill, we basked in the solitude of the woods. Eventually we encountered an apple orchard, and then finished our walk by strolling through a beautiful meadow. That pretty much sounds like a fairy tale. Except it was real life.

Across the meadow, we found a hotel that had a fabulous balcony restaurant overlooking Petrin Hill and the rest of Prague, below. We totally snatched up that table at the far end of the deck below. Possibly the best restaurant venue ever? Top 5!?

I pretty much wanted to live on this balcony for the rest of my life. The huz was skeptical.

First priority was rehydrating, because we were quite parched after our walk up and down 299 stairs, and across Petrin Hill.

How adorable are these min carafes!?

We shared an order of tomato bruschetta first.

I ordered a Niçoise Salad (which inspired to make this one when I got back home from our trip!). Pretty much the perfect summer lunch!

Yet another Club Sandwich for the huz.

After we finished eating we just sat and chatted and relished in the views, waiting for the ice cubes in carafes to thaw, so we could drink every last drop of those pricy 120 CZK beverages. (We could have just eaten the ice but that would be too easy.)

The huz is about to bask in his rewards of melted ice:

In my next post I’ll tell you about our equally lovely and leisurely afternoon!

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3 thoughts on “Europe 2013: Prague Day 7–Part I: Petrin Hill”

So far I’ve climbed Petrin hill with its observation tower, the Astronomical Clock tower, and of course the hill to Prague Castle itself. I couldn’t very well not also climb the south tower of St Vitus. This was definitely the most taxing of the viewing towers, partly because it’s taller than the others (96m compared to 60m for Petrin tower and the Astronomical Clock) but also because the stairwell is a classic medieval spiral staircase. There are a few small windows into the tower interior, but generally you’re stuck in a very narrow stone enclosure until you reach the top.